IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i15p4629-d605216.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cooking Fuel Usage in Sub-Saharan Urban Households

Author

Listed:
  • Ting Meng

    (Academy of Global Food Economics and Policy, Beijing Food Safety and Strategy Research Base, College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

  • Wojciech J. Florkowski

    (Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, Griffin, GA 30223-1797, USA)

  • Daniel B. Sarpong

    (Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, University of Ghana, Legon Accra P.O. Box LG 25, Ghana)

  • Manjeet Chinnan

    (Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, Griffin, GA 30223-1797, USA)

  • Anna V. A. Resurreccion

    (Department of Food Science and Technology, University of Georgia, Griffin, GA 30223-1797, USA)

Abstract

This study models the frequency use of wood, charcoal, liquid gas, electricity, and kerosene in urban households in Ghana and supplements the literature on cooking fuel choices. The modeling is based on survey data collected in several major Ghanaian cities. Survey results indicate that charcoal and liquid gas are frequently used in meal preparation, while the frequency use of firewood, kerosene, and electricity is limited. Frequency use is estimated using the ordered probit technique. Five cooking fuel use equations identify income, socio-demographic characteristics, and location of urban residents as influencing the frequency use. Statistically significant effects measure probability changes in each of the four fuel categories. Income and education increase the probability of often or very often of using liquid gas or electricity to cook. The effect of being employed by the government is similar but less consistent. Age, household size, and marital status are linked to frequency use, but differently affect specific fuels. As the number of children or adults increases in a household, so does the probability of using firewood or charcoal, but this also increases the probability that such households never use liquid gas or electricity for cooking. Regional differences indicate Tamale residents heavily rely on wood and charcoal, and infrequently use liquid gas or electricity. Multiple cooking fuel use behavior may reflect risk aversion to fuel shortages. Increasing incomes and improving education will drive the probability of an increased use of cleaner cooking fuels and decreased use of fuel mixes, benefiting meal preparers’ health and the environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Ting Meng & Wojciech J. Florkowski & Daniel B. Sarpong & Manjeet Chinnan & Anna V. A. Resurreccion, 2021. "Cooking Fuel Usage in Sub-Saharan Urban Households," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-18, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:15:p:4629-:d:605216
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4629/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/15/4629/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Paudel, Uttam & Khatri, Umesh & Pant, Krishna Prasad, 2018. "Understanding the determinants of household cooking fuel choice in Afghanistan: A multinomial logit estimation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 55-62.
    2. Ouedraogo, Boukary, 2006. "Household energy preferences for cooking in urban Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(18), pages 3787-3795, December.
    3. Prasad, Gisela, 2008. "Energy sector reform, energy transitions and the poor in Africa," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2785-2790, August.
    4. Foell, Wesley & Pachauri, Shonali & Spreng, Daniel & Zerriffi, Hisham, 2011. "Household cooking fuels and technologies in developing economies," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7487-7496.
    5. Yiridoe, Emmanuel K. & Nanang, David M., 2001. "An Econometric Analysis Of The Causes Of Tropical Deforestation: Ghana," 2001 Annual meeting, August 5-8, Chicago, IL 20750, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. World Bank Group, 2015. "Rising through Cities in Ghana," World Bank Publications - Reports 22020, The World Bank Group.
    7. Mensah, Justice Tei & Adu, George, 2015. "An empirical analysis of household energy choice in Ghana," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 1402-1411.
    8. Edwards, Rufus D. & Smith, Kirk R. & Zhang, Junfeng & Ma, Yuqing, 2004. "Implications of changes in household stoves and fuel use in China," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 395-411, February.
    9. Brew-Hammond, Abeeku, 2010. "Energy access in Africa: Challenges ahead," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 2291-2301, May.
    10. Louw, Kate & Conradie, Beatrice & Howells, Mark & Dekenah, Marcus, 2008. "Determinants of electricity demand for newly electrified low-income African households," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(8), pages 2814-2820, August.
    11. Wickramasinghe, Anoja, 2011. "Energy access and transition to cleaner cooking fuels and technologies in Sri Lanka: Issues and policy limitations," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(12), pages 7567-7574.
    12. Choudhuri, Pallavi & Desai, Sonalde, 2020. "Gender inequalities and household fuel choice in India," MPRA Paper 110340, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Heltberg, Rasmus, 2004. "Fuel switching: evidence from eight developing countries," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 869-887, September.
    14. World Bank Group, 2015. "Urbanization in Ghana," World Bank Publications - Reports 22761, The World Bank Group.
    15. Leach, Gerald, 1992. "The energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 116-123, February.
    16. Sokona, Youba & Mulugetta, Yacob & Gujba, Haruna, 2012. "Widening energy access in Africa: Towards energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 3-10.
    17. World Bank, 2017. "The Little Green Data Book 2017," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 27466.
    18. Vania Vigolo & Rezarta Sallaku & Federico Testa, 2018. "Drivers and Barriers to Clean Cooking: A Systematic Literature Review from a Consumer Behavior Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-21, November.
    19. Acharya, Bikram & Marhold, Klaus, 2019. "Determinants of household energy use and fuel switching behavior in Nepal," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 1132-1138.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muller, Christophe & Yan, Huijie, 2018. "Household fuel use in developing countries: Review of theory and evidence," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 429-439.
    2. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2013. "The energy ladder: Theoretical myth or empirical truth? Results from a meta-analysis," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 504-513.
    3. Andadari, Roos Kities & Mulder, Peter & Rietveld, Piet, 2014. "Energy poverty reduction by fuel switching. Impact evaluation of the LPG conversion program in Indonesia," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 436-449.
    4. Kojo Sarfo Gyamfi & Elena Gaura & James Brusey & Alessandro Bezerra Trindade & Nandor Verba, 2020. "Understanding Household Fuel Choice Behaviour in the Amazonas State, Brazil: Effects of Validation and Feature Selection," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
    5. Olabisi, Michael & Tschirley, David L. & Nyange, David & Awokuse, Titus, 2019. "Energy demand substitution from biomass to imported kerosene: Evidence from Tanzania," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 243-252.
    6. Pallegedara, Asankha & Mottaleb, Khondoker Abdul & Rahut, Dil Bahadur, 2021. "Exploring choice and expenditure on energy for domestic works by the Sri Lankan households: Implications for policy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    7. Dongzagla, Alfred & Adams, Abdul-Moomin, 2022. "Determinants of urban household choice of cooking fuel in Ghana: Do socioeconomic and demographic factors matter?," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    8. Zhang, Xiao-Bing & Hassen, Sied, 2017. "Household fuel choice in urban China: evidence from panel data," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(4), pages 392-413, August.
    9. Koirala, Dhiroj Prasad & Acharya, Bikram, 2022. "Households’ fuel choices in the context of a decade-long load-shedding problem in Nepal," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    10. Stabridis, Omar & van Gameren, Edwin, 2018. "Exposure to firewood: Consequences for health and labor force participation in Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 382-395.
    11. Abedullah & Muhammad Tanvir, 2020. "Unveiling the Effects of Indoor Air Pollution on Health of Rural Women in Pakistan," PIDE-Working Papers 2020:12, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.
    12. Klege, Rebecca A. & Amuakwa-Mensah, Franklin & Visser, Martine, 2022. "Tenancy and energy choices in Rwanda. A replication and extension study," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 26(C).
    13. Wang, Chengchao & Yang, Yusheng & Zhang, Yaoqi, 2012. "Rural household livelihood change, fuelwood substitution, and hilly ecosystem restoration: Evidence from China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 2475-2482.
    14. Koffi Ekouevi & Voravate Tuntivate, 2012. "Household Energy Access for Cooking and Heating : Lessons Learned and the Way Forward," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 9372.
    15. Sokona, Youba & Mulugetta, Yacob & Gujba, Haruna, 2012. "Widening energy access in Africa: Towards energy transition," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(S1), pages 3-10.
    16. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    17. van der Kroon, Bianca & Brouwer, Roy & van Beukering, Pieter J.H., 2014. "The impact of the household decision environment on fuel choice behavior," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 236-247.
    18. Maheshwar Giri & Binoy Goswami, 2018. "Determinants of Household’s Choice of Fuel for Cooking in Developing Countries: Evidence from Nepal," Journal of Development Policy and Practice, , vol. 3(2), pages 137-154, July.
    19. Cheng, Chao-yo & Urpelainen, Johannes, 2014. "Fuel stacking in India: Changes in the cooking and lighting mix, 1987–2010," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 306-317.
    20. J.M.D. Sandamali Wijayarathne & Gazi M. Hassan & Mark J. Holmes, 2021. "Non-Price Determinants of Energy Choice for Cooking: Empirical Evidence from Sri Lankan Households," Working Papers in Economics 21/05, University of Waikato.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:15:p:4629-:d:605216. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.